I had a bizarre dream last night. Bizarre dreams for me are not unusual. Actually I take it back... not the second sentence, my dreams are unusual, but I take back the first sentence. This dream wasn't so much bizarre as it was interesting to me (and probably boring to you). It mixed together 4 musicals (and a movie). I'll explain it later for anyone actually interested. But this dream did make me start to think about dreams in general. They're one of the biggest mysteries out there. Most people have on average something like 14 dreams per night (I made that up but I know it's a sizable number) and yet we remember less than 5% of them. There are countless theories on why we dream at all and why we dream what we do. Some say it's a way of processing memories and eliminating unnecessary information from the brain. Others believe it's a reflection of our subconscious hopes and fears. And there are studies that claim they're completely random sequences that mean absolutely nothing and are based entirely on neural signals. Then there are other theories that say, for example, that dreams allow the repressed parts of our mind to be satisfied through fantasy while keeping our conscious mind from thoughts that would suddenly make you wake up from shock. And I think it was Freud (or some other famous psychoanalyst) who claimed that bad dreams teach the brain to gain control over emotions that are a result of distressing experiences, thereby literally helping us to cope. Who knows what dreams are all about... all I know is 70% of my dreams are nonsensical and bizarre (read, random). Then maybe 15% of the time it's a clear story/situation with some degree of believability (no supernatural slash impossible events, just improbable ones). 10% of the time my dreams really get me thinking about some part of my life (these are the ones I think reflect my subconscious) and the other 5% of the time I wake up amazed by the cleverness of my sleeping mind (usually it's a really awesome dance that I'm watching and I wake up wishing I could remember what my sleeping self choreographed, other times it's just a really clever, witty joke someone says in my dream and I wake up wishing I were funny enough in real life to think up something like that... you get the idea. Basically I'm more clever while asleep than awake. Good quality to promote about myself.) Really, when I think about all of the dreams I can recall in my lifetime, last night's dream was pretty normal.

So here is the dream, to the best of my recollection. Maybe 1 in 12 people will actually enjoy this. Make that 1 in 12 theatre people. But I'll still tell you about it, because I find part of it amusing. So, I dreamed I was auditioning for the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Quick one sentence background info: There's only one role I would ever go for in this and that actual character's name is Christine Colgate. End background info. In my dream I was debating between two roles in terms of which one I should audition for. One of them was Janet van de Graaff (wrong show entirely... she's a character in Drowsy Chaperone) and the other was Veronica Corningstone. Yes, I know that's the character in Anchorman. Allow me to explain where I think that came from. See, in the dream I was picturing the character of Christine Colgate, including an image of the original actress who portrayed her, Sherie Rene Scott, but I merely had the name confused as Veronica Corningstone instead of Christine Colgate. Part way into the dream my image of Christine Colgate (or should I say Veronica Corningstone) switched from Sherie Rene Scott to Christina Applegate, the actress who played Veronica Corningstone in Anchorman (except it was the Sweet Charity version of Christina Applegate I pictured in my mind circa the 2005 Times Square billboards, not the anchorwoman version of Christina Applegate in a suit).

   

Sherie Rene Scott as Christine Colgate

                                   

My new image of Christine Colgate

I think my brain became confused because Christine Colgate and Christina Applegate sound quite similar really. Change an "e" to an "a" and a "Col" to an "Apple" and they're identical. So anyways, I was debating about whether to try out for Janet van de Graaf (who at least I imagined correctly as Sutton Foster in her Drowsy Chaperone yellow nostalgic dress) or "Veronica Corningstone".

  Janet van de Graaf

Veronica Corningstone

To aide in making my decision I decided to practice Janet's song "Show Off" and Christine/Veronica's random part where she belts crazy high in "Love is My Legs" (I say crazy high, it's probably like a D... your regular, standard D, not the crazy high one). And when I say I practiced these songs it was more so my envisioning Sutton Foster doing "Show Off" and Christina Applegate doing "Love is My Legs", complete with the dance moves, costumes and scenery... but in my dream-state this envisioning other people singing equated to me practicing. After I was done "practicing" I decided I was an ill-fit for both of these roles and that I would just audition for Peggy Sawyer instead (from 42nd Street).

And that was the dream. A combination of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Drowsy Chaperone, Sweet Charity, 42nd Street and Anchorman all wrapped into one. I really am a theatre nerd.

I've decided I hate Winter. It's too freakin cold. An age old question that shows up on 9 out of 10 "fill this out just because" surveys is what's your favorite season. I've always been a Fall/Spring answerer, leaning more towards Fall... but during Winter I'm always tempted to put Summer as my favorite season out of sheer resentment of Winter and its coldness. (Because we all know Winter's opposite, and therefore arch nemesis, is Summer... and in my bizarre mind declaring "Summer" as my favorite season is a kick in the gut to Winter.... Because seasons have feelings.... of course). I've always said I liked living in New England because we get the four seasons. Which I mean, yeah it's nice I suppose. I went to college with some people who had never seen snow before, and I thought that was a pretty sad thing. (These people went berserk when the first snow happened. I'm talking you saw a single flake and they were outside in snow gear, determined to wait and watch for 4 hours until half an inch had accumulated, all the while eagerly anticipating the moment there was enough that they could make a snow angel.) Certainly when I was younger Winter was probably my most hopeful of all seasons. With Winter came the chance of snow and with the chance of snow came the chance of school being closed. Of course, I lived on the coast and was more often than not merely taunted by seeing towns less than 10 miles north of me having no school while we only got a 30 minute delay. Really, why did 10 miles north always get snow when we in Orange got a "wintry mix"? The curse of the coast. Even then Winter was frustrating. If you're going to get snow, might as well get enough to warrant a school cancellation. That was my thinking. Otherwise what's the point? Sure, it's pretty while it's snowing (and it always weirded me out that it's warmer when it's snowing too) but after the snow is done it just becomes messy and annoying.

Now that I'm older, and driving (and not in school), any forecast of snow is just frustrating. It means I will have to add at least an hour into my schedule in order to clean off my car, leave early to get places and drive more carefully than normal, all the while fearing that my car will slip and do a 360 (as happened to me once) and go flying off the road or into another car. And yet, even though I hate when I look at the weather and see "snow" listed, I get depressed if an entire Winter has passed without one good snowfall. Then it seems a waste. I'm difficult to please. Not really though... it's just that Winter inherently annoys me. January is prime Winter time too... it's at the point when you're over the cold. Christmas is done, aka the only good thing about Winter, so Winter should be too. Time to move on to Spring.

Some people love Winter. You know the type... not the ones who tolerate it or the ones who enjoy snow, but the ones who really LOVE Winter. It's like with purple... I know how random that sounds and I agree, it's random. Allow a moment for an explanation (after which you'll still agree it's random). People generally have a favorite color but there are legit purple fans. I don't know why it's only that color that has the fanatics but I find it to be true. If someone's favorite color is purple they're usually obsessive and protective of their choice (do not insult purple in their presence). Well, Winter is to seasons what purple is colors. There are Winter fanatics. This is unfathomable to me. I mean, I suppose if you ski or ice skate (of which I do neither) okay... maybe then. But really... who prefers the cold to a comfortable temperature? What, do you just have  fantastically stylish winter gear you love to show off and wear? Matching scarf, glove, hat set? Cute boots? I don't know. I suppose I'll never understand. Just like I don't understand what's so fantastic about purple. All I know is I'm ready for Spring. Now, please.